Igbo group recommends death penalty for rapists

AN Igbo pressure group, Voice from the East, VEAST, has recommended death penalty for rapists, stressing that rape should be punishable by hanging in order to reduce the increasing cases of rape in the society.

The group in a statement by its convener, Mr Kindness Jonah, Thursday, noted with sadness, the rape of one Matha, a virgin by her uncle, as published in the Vanguard newspaper of August, 2018.

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He said: “This enterprising beautiful virgin Christian lady who should be protected by her uncle, guided and given out in marriage as a matter of pride and honour to her husband by her uncle was contrariwise, raped by her uncle. As Igbos would say, ‘dog has eaten the bone on its neck.

“This incestuous act cannot and should no more be tolerated in Nigeria. We call for the full weight of the law to be invoked on this uncle of her’s to ensure that this satanic fellow is soundly punished with nothing short of life jail.

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“We make case for death by hanging for all cases of rape from now on in Nigeria. The rate of rape and the concomitant wriggling out of the case by the guilty via the instrumentality of the law and the so-called legal lacunas occasioned by burden of proof in limbo, makes a raped victim, a laughing stock in Nigeria, thereby emboldening the criminal and furthering the course of this despicable act.

“It is sad the increasing cases of incest in our society where father rapes or sleeps with his daughter, where brother rapes or sleeps with his sister, where uncle rapes or sleeps with his aunt. From Biblical times, incest was condemned and can never be tolerated in our society any more.

We call on the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency, make laws that punish rapist by hanging him publicly.”